“We need to get the hell out of here, NOW!” shouts Sybele. “They’re attacking out homes!”
“I tried to persuade you to help me prevent this at the casters’ conference,” Prayzose calls, sternly but regretfully.
The figure of Graz’zt (whom we know is actually Veil, but most of our heroes do not yet realize that) is pressing the strange geometric Wrath of Law. Beside him, Chakar strikes out with his fists and feet, and the balor Zurgle slashes at the perfected ooze with his evil blade.
“Gather on me!” cries Lillamere. “Let’s get out of here!”
Gerontius slams shut the secret door to the room the priests came from, cutting off the demon prince, balor and ooze. In the confusion, the halfling does not realize that he has just cut off Chakar as well. Fortunately, Alcar does, and with a savage war cry, the Angel of Food charges
through the wall, smashing a great hole in place of the secret door!* Then his mace is swinging at the Wrath of Law as he scowls at “Graz’zt” and growls, “You’re next, demon!”
“Alcar, no!” cries Wankerman in despair. “We need all the help we can get!”
“You fool, I’m
Veil!” ‘Graz’zt’ shouts. “Now help me fight this thing!”
Meanwhile, Lillamere uses a scroll to open a
gate to the astral plane. Our heroes, for the most part, leap to the astral plane while Lester and Orbius
greater teleport away to the Halls of Healing.
We need Horbin’s help! reasons Lester.
And if Var’s under attack, they need our help, too. I need to check on the Temple of Elemental Good, too- and soon!
He clenches his fists as the Eye’s spell whisks them away.
They were completely prepared for us. Inoke, how could you?!
***
Brelana
Hyliss appears in the streets of Brelana, and to his horror the enemy is already there, as promised by the Arrows of Law. Clockwork horrors, mechanical insects of gold and silver and copper and, here and there, other, more exotic types, are everywhere. They crawl through the streets.
Hyliss stays discrete for a moment, flitting from building to building and just gaping at the force that has somehow come here so quickly. “They were ready for us,” he mutters.
Then he hears a noise and whirls.
The Judge of Worlds has come, its combat mode fully engaged. The terrifying ultimate inevitable looms about 14’ tall. At the core of its body is an emotionless metal face whose large, insect-like eyes seem to take in everything around it. From the surrounding metal emerge various limbs and tools, some of which are delicate manipulators and some, deadly weapons. The entire chassis of the thing is painted a dull, neutral grey.
Before he
greater teleported away from the Bastion, Hyliss had taken a potent item from Lillamere. Now he activates and throws it- a
Daern’s instant fortress. It grows in mid-flight, becoming a huge deadly missile. But the Judge springs out of the way with surprising, inhuman deftness.
Then several metal rods bark and Hyliss and he feels a flash of agony. Metal bullets blast into him, again and again and again, and chew him to pieces.
***
The Halls of Healing, Var
Horbin gasps as Marius and Prayzose appear. “What are you doing here?” he cries. “Get out! Out!! And call off your damned monkeys!!”
“Get your friends to surrender,” Emperor Prayzose demands.
“They aren’t going to listen to me!! Are you insane? Prayzose, you’re working with devils!”
“Even devils do the work of the Lord,” Prayzose retorts.
And Mabrack, Lester and Orbius appear. With a savage glad cry, Orbius casts a
Mordenkainen’s disjunction at the two Arrows- and his jaw drops as a shimmer reveals some sort of protective spell that absorbs the
disjunction upon each of the Arrows of Law! Roaring, Mabrack charges Prayzose, swinging a mighty blow that deflects off the High Priest of the Light’s armor.
With an angry roar, Prayzos invokes a quickened
harm on the giant wizard. Mabrack grimaces as wounds open along his arms and chest, but he bellows laughter. “Is that all you’ve got?” he taunts Prayzose.
The Emperor’s eyes blaze as, with but a gesture, he invokes a terrific
burning ray that blasts into Mabrack’s chest. It blazes into and through the giant’s huge torso, exploding out of his back in a rain of sizzling guts and flesh!
“All of you, get the hell out of here!” Horbin shouts again. “For the good of the people, don’t fight here!”
JJ
teleports in with just then, as Orbius and Lester grimace at Mabrack’s corpse and
greater teleport away to the Temple of Elemental Good. JJ looks at Mabrack’s blasted body and gulps.
Prayzose and Marius look at the demislaad. Prayzose begins casting a spell, and JJ cringes; but almost as if by a miracle, the spell slides off of JJ’s meager spell resistance.** Prayzose quirks an eyebrow. “You must be formidable,” he states.
“Too small to be worth dealing with. Well, bye!” Then JJ is gone,
bending reality to teleport away again.
***
The island of Tduc
Inoke! The voice, across the
telepathic bond, is angry and full of pain. It belongs to Thrush.
Hey Thrush, Inoke replies.
How is it going for you guys?
Not too hot, Thrush snarls.
We just heard some rather shocking news. Pause.
About you. Pause.
Is it true? Are you the new Arrow of Law?
Well...
Inoke hesitates for just an instant, but Thrush understands the meaning of that hesitation all too well.
If the answer isn’t no, it’s yes, he sends grimly.
Why? Why did you betray us?!
I didn’t, Inoke sends earnestly.
I told you, I’m not going to fight you guys, and I’m not.
Oh, I wouldn’t be too sure of that now.
A mental sigh.
Look, I’m telling you, I’m not a part of this. I’m not going to fight you! I’m on vacation!
Your vacation, Thrush sends,
is over.
***
The Bastion of Law
Veil, Chakar, Alcar and the balor stand side by side, facing the Wrath of Law. Alcar keeps glancing at Veil and shaking his head. He does not approve.
Then again, the Light does not truly approve of his going against the forces of Law, does it? But isn’t it like Horbin says- it’s the good that matters, not Law or Chaos? Alcar cogitates while he fights, troubled. Much has troubled him lately- the aleax, his slaying of the orcish paladins- there is so much that weighs on his mind. Why must he be brought in conflict with those of his own faith?
How
dare they consort with devils?!
He scowls as he notes that the Wrath of Law is regenerating. He scowls further as it
hastes itself, as if it weren’t enough of a challenge as it was!
From the corner of the room, Pan Lo calls out, “Chakar, you are being ineffectual! Show me your techniques!” The dwarven monk redoubles his efforts, attempting to grapple the ooze but slipping off of its slimy surface. A
holy word from Alcar banishes both the balor and Veil (to Alcar’s surprise; but he immediately surmises that it has something to do with that damned shield), but unfortunately it fails to do much harm to the Wrath of Law.
The melee continues as, around the corner, Marius and Prayzose return to the Bastion. Marius reads a
greater dispel magic from a scroll and collapses the
gate to the astral. The two Arrows of Law exchange a glance.
“We have to stay very, very mobile,” Marius states.
Prayzose nods. “It’s really the key to the whole thing,” Prayzose agrees.
They vanish again, and a moment later most of the party (less Veil, Horbin, Lester and Orbius) reappears at the Bastion, ready for more! They pour it on against the Wrath of Law alongside Chakar and Alcar, while Pan Lo encourages his apprentice from the sidelines.
Finally, Chakar manages to get a hold on the thing! It thrashes about, trying to free itself, but the dwarf manages to ride it for a few seconds.
“That is better, Chakar!” cries Pan Lo.
The ooze throws him off after a momentary struggle, but having succeeded, Chakar knows that he has succeeded. That is all that matters. Then the Wrath of Law swings a brutal pseudopod that slams across his jaw with devastating force. Chakar spits blood and shakes his head.
JJ, meanwhile, opens another door, and cries out, “Oh no! Big skeletons back there...” He unleashes a psionic
energy stun and electricity crackles out over the giant skeletons, destroying one of them. Then he swings the door shut, glancing back at the battle with the Wrath of Law in time to see Sybele fire a
crystal shard into it. It shivers as the mass of psionic crystal smashes into it, followed by a flurry of hacks from Thrush. Finally, Alcar pounds it with his mace and it is destroyed, smashed into a thousand tiny perfect ovals of goo that roll on the floor like beads of mercury.
And just then, at the head of a wing of angels, Prayzose returns, Marius beside him. Chakar springs for the High Priest of the Light, attempting to use the dreaded
quivering palm on him, but misses.
“That chair!” announces Sybele. “It looks important!”
“It’s blazing with magical power,” confirms Lillamere. “And that monk was guarding it.” He pulls out a vial of water of chaos. “If it’s a relic of Law, maybe this will defile it!” He hurls the vial onto the chair, where it hisses and smokes but does not seem to do any lasting harm.
“I can’t believe he betrayed us!” Thrush groans aloud, stepping towards the angels.
“What?” exclaims Gerontius. “Who betrayed us? What do you mean?”
“Weren’t you listening to the link?” Chakar demands.
“It was disjoined,” the halfling protests.
“Inoke,” Chakar intones, “is to be the seventh Arrow of Law.”
“Impossible!” cries Sybele. “Inconceivable! He promised that he wouldn’t fight us!”
“It doesn’t matter right now,” Chakar says firmly. “What matters is this pool. We need to find it.”
The angels charge.
***
The Abyss
Graz’zt scowls,
greater teleporting to his Argent Palace. The demons present on the balcony where he appears abase themselves, desperate to please him lest he destroy them in a moment of pique.
“Where are my balors?” Graz’zt demands.
“Uh, I, uh, do not know, my lord,” squeals one of them, a chasme.
Graz’zt scowls, sending them scurrying away in fear; and then, with a secret giggle on known to the Veil part of him/herself, he wanders the halls of his palace for a few moments before he finds a suitable servant- another balor.
“Where do we go to get to the Prime?” Graz’zt growls.
The balor’s mouth opens for a moment as if the balor is about to question his master, but then he just nods and answers. One never knows when Graz’zt will test him. Together, they go through the shifting chamber and then
greater teleport back to the battle.
Next Time: The battle continues!
*Alcar’s player said he was going to “Kool-Aid Man” through the wall. And boy did he!
**We use the “exploding dice” variant- on a natural 1 or 20, you roll again and add your result to 20 (or, if you roll a 1, you subtract your followup roll from 1). If you roll a 20 on this followup roll, you explode again, ad infinitum. In this case, I rolled a 1, followed by a 20, followed by some other high number, resulting in a quite low penetration roll.
